CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI)

Interview

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COOPER: Jim Acosta at the White House -- Jim, thanks very much.

It's a busy night. Joining us, Hawaii Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono.

Senator, thanks for being with us.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D), HAWAII: Sure.

COOPER: Should Speaker Pelosi have expected some form of retaliation after telling the president to postpone the State of the Union because of security concerns? She pulled a lever at her disposal. Now the president pulled one at his.

HIRONIO: It's never a surprise when Donald Trump does something very childish. But let's not forget who began this train wreck of an unnecessary and harmful shutdown. It's Donald Trump when he changed his mind about supporting a bill that was passed by the House, bills passed by the Senate, I should say, in December and expected to be passed by the House when he changed his mind after getting yelled at by some folks on Fox News.

So, he is one of the people who can end this shutdown right now, but I don't expect him to because he has taken 800,000 people hostages. The other person is, of course, Mitch McConnell, who should start acting like the Senate is a separate branch of government, that Congress is a separate branch of government, and he should just bring those Senate past bills to the floor for a vote so that we can end this shutdown, and then the president will be given a chance to make his pitch on the substance of a wall.

And let's face it. It's clear he can't justify this wall. That's why he has to take people hostage in order to get his way.

COOPER: I read a tweet that you sent earlier today about Mitch McConnell. You said last year Mitch McConnell called for bipartisanship, accusing Democrats of putting partisan politics ahead of the country. Clearly, you are -- are you surprised by his relative radio silence during the shutdown?

[20:05:02] HIRONO: Mitch McConnell is basically a person who will -- who's very facile, I should say, in getting what he wants. So if he wants to end this shutdown, he can do so, because he has used his powers time and again to get votes, such as the $5 trillion tax break for the richest in our country, screwing the middle class, bringing to the floor a bill that would undo the Affordable Care Act and just throwing millions of people off of health care.

He had no problems bringing those bills, not to mention changing the rules so that it would take only a bare majority of senators to put Supreme Court justices on the court. So he has used his power time and again.

Why can't he use it to help 800,000 people who are working women, many of them, without paychecks?

So the ripple effect of all of this harm from this train wreck was started by Donald Trump who said oh, yes, I'll take responsibility for it, but of course not.

COOPER: I understand you blame the president for it. In fact, the president said he would carry the mantle of the shutdown.

HIRONO: Yes. But forget that.

COOPER: But does Speaker Pelosi share any of the blame as well? She is claiming security concerns based on the shutdown for saying that president shouldn't do the State of the Union. But that seems a little hard to believe.

HIRONO: Anderson, frankly, I think we should get our sights back on who can end this shutdown. So this back and forth, et cetera, you know ,I don't think the president should be giving a state of the state, State of the Union speech so that he can for 45 minutes carry on about all the great things he has done at a time when the government shut down.

We should be focusing on reopening the government. Who can do that? The president. Forget that. And Mitch McConnell.

That's why the president of our country are awakening to that responsibility that Mitch is running away from, and there billboards now in his own state saying where are you, Mitch. Do your job.

COOPER: Senator Lindsey Graham, your Republican colleague tweeted today saying one sophomoric response does not deserve another. He doesn't like what the president did, but he doesn't like what the president did, but he doesn't like what the speaker did either. I mean --

HIRONO: So, I don't want to spend a lot of time arguing about that back and forth. I want to focus like a laser beam on who can end the shutdown, who has the power to do that, who should have the will to do that, and that is Mitch, and he's not doing it.

COOPER: If Speaker Pelosi had gone to Afghanistan and it was five-day trip, wouldn't that have delayed any possibility of ending the shutdown for at least five more days?

HIRONO: You know, when we have these trips set, having gone to Afghanistan and Iraq and China and all these places, it's a lot of work, and I know she was going there to meet with our troops to see that their needs were being met, and, of course, to go to Brussels and reassure our allies that there are many of us who think getting out of NATO would actually be very detrimental to our national security.

But let's set that aside. Really, the person who could end this -- do you think she would go on a trip if Mitch McConnell said I am going to bring the Senate -- the bills that we already passed in the Senate and passed by the House, he will bring these bills to the floor. Do you think she would go on a trip?

Nobody would be going anywhere. We would all be here voting for that legislation to reopen government. There is no question in my mind.

COOPER: Yes.

Senator Hirono, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

HIRONO: OK. Sure.

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